Cassie & Jimmy are MARRIED-! These two were wed just a few days ago here in South Bend at the Serbian Hall that sits just across the field from Saints Peter and Paul Eastern Serbian Orthodox Church-! The whole wedding day was celebrated there at “Serb Hall” as they call it which made it easy for guests to stay warm and comfortable within the hall not having to rush off to anywhere else-! Serb Hall may be best known for its indoor/ outdoor summer “Serb Fest” which we too absolutely LOVE (the Serbian food is to die for), so the last time we were here (other than a day before their wedding to scout portrait locations) was actually this year’s Serb Fest-! We were excited to be back for an even more exciting day of Cassie & Jimmy’s wedding! You may remember these two from their Engagement Session this summer when we captured them both at a gorgeous jungle-esque park as well as at a private dirt bike track with Jimmy jumping over Cassie in his professional dirt bike and Cassie standing bravely on the track to kiss him as he popped a wheelie stopping on a dime right next to her! Without further adieu, their wedding day-!
On their wedding day, we each separately met these two where they had been getting ready that day: At Cassie & Jimmy’s house and at Jimmy’s friend’s place! Jenny photographed Cassie’s dress, shoes, etc. there at their house while Jason photographed the guys riding around and having fun!
Jimmy and the guys were riding their dirt bikes all around the awesome property (that had jumps built around the house and touched the overpass) and Cassie had just wrapped up getting ready at the house-!
Soon the ladies were off to Serb Hall for they and Cassie to get dressed-! They had gotten ready with hair and makeup pretty early with Cassie’s parents also there at their house, so they were happy to not be rushed in their preparation process.
The guys were ready a bit early as well, so Jason was able to photograph their groomsmen group photos there at Jimmy’s friend’s house-!
At the hall the ladies all got dressed and ready with Cassie’s mom helping Cassie with her dress & veil, then it was time for Cassie & Jimmy’s First Look just outside the hall-! Jimmy was prepped and ready as was Cassie… in her blowfish costume-! Cassie and Jimmy have a great sense of humor, so Cassie knew for months that she wanted to surprise Jimmy with something goofy, but didn’t to mess up her wedding hair or professionally done makeup and finally settled on a blowfish costume (that she customized on the back for easy removal)-! Once it was time for Jimmy to turn around he was all smiles-!
He didn’t flinch much though, so amidst our laughing we realized that Jimmy must have seen Cassie in quite a few funny situations over the years to not react with too much shock-! We love that Cassie and Jimmy love each other so much that they can goof around like this and have Jimmy still respond with “You’re beautiful no matter what even as a blowfish.”
Cassie did take her costume off and we captured a few quick First Look moments between the two of them before it was almost time for their ceremony-!
Cassie did a quick first look with her dad as well afterward, then it was time for Cassie & Jimmy’s wedding ceremony!
Into Serb Hall everyone went for their wedding ceremony-!
Their family & bridal party preceded them down the aisle and before long it was time for Cassie to head down the aisle. Cassie’s dad walked her down as Jimmy looked on (we think a bit misty eyed) before the two of them united up by their bridal party and pastor.
Their pastor was a young friend of Jimmy’s, so he shared some personal stories these two throughout the wedding ceremony.
During their ceremony they uniquely hammered together a beautiful wooden picture frame to symbolize how only through working together will they get through their marriage/ lives together.
Cassie & Jimmy exchanged vows, then exchanged rings!
With that, these two were married-! They had a First Kiss, then headed down the aisle as newlyweds-!
Post-ceremony we all headed outside to capture their family portraits, bridal party photos, and newlywed portraits-! We had come the day before to see how the fall foliage was looking and chose a corner with the best autumn leaves that we could find for their 40 group photos.
Since folks were a bit cold with it being in the 40s outside, we also captured most of the bridal party photos there as well before dismissing them to head inside to Cocktail Hour-!
Most of the groomsmen photos as usual had been taken earlier in the day as the guys got ready at Jimmy’s buddy’s house. The house has the best backyard with very unique views, so we loved it as a backdrop for the guys’ portraits as well!
Things were running well ahead of schedule (which is never the case) AND the schedule was pretty relaxed with there being hours of leeway (which is also NEVER the case) so once we wrapped up group photos (and the bridal party hopped in a truck to get across the field back to the hall) we decided to capture all of Jimmy & Cassie’s newlywed portraits right then and there-!
We made sure Cassie got a jacket to stay warm in between photos and headed around outside to capture these two newlyweds and the last bit of beautiful fall (quite literally since just a day and a half later it snowed down on us here in South Bend with inches of snow knocking all of the leaves off of the trees)-!
(These two even fit in a quick dance session in the midst of their Newlywed photos-!)
We were so thankful that snow and rain held off and that it was the last day even close to 50 degrees for the foreseeable future this November-! These two were able to romp around in the fall leaves, walk around with ease, and share some kisses during their newlywed portraits.
Cassie wore her grandmother’s pearls on their wedding day, so we made sure to capture that special memento as well.
After heading to a handful of spots for their newlywed portraits and individual photos, we left these two to head into their wedding reception on time.
They were announced in to their reception after their bridal party, then once up at their table on the stage, Cassie’s dad gave a toast. Just prior to dinner Jimmy thanked guests for joining them on their wedding day, then it was time for the meal-!
We sat down at that point for the delicious chicken dinner while Cassie & Jimmy ate and then began to greet tables. Post-dinner these two enjoyed their First Dance followed by the father-daughter dance, mother-son dance, and Cassie’s awesome brother joining her in some dancing-!
With that it was Open Dance-! Guests enjoyed dancing, a Photo Booth, writing out suggestions for adventures that these two should take (to put into their suggestion box), drinks, a huge variety of desserts, and more-! These two didn’t have a speeches/ toasts or cake cutting, so guests were free to party for the remainder of the night-!
There was a huge cake for guests to enjoy made by Jimmy’s aunt as well as a plethora of desserts, so guests went to town on the vast array of amazing desserts-! (Since their honeymoon next week is at Disneyland, they even had Mickey Mouse decorations atop some of the desserts-!)
There were so many dances that folks partook in as well-! There were couple dances, father-daughter dances, a special Chair Guitar dance that Jimmy and his friends enjoyed, and more.
Amidst Open Dance these two also did their garter toss and bouquet toss. A first for us in 10+ years of wedding photography, Jimmy somehow threw the garter so hard that it literally got stuck on the ceiling-! It had everyone laughing hysterically, but eventually a chair was used to get it down and toss it off. Cassie’s brother’s date actually caught her bouquet, so all-in-all everything worked out well-!
Later that evening these two had a truckload of Barnaby’s pizzas delivered for a Late Night Snack (probably one of the best wedding snacks we’ve seen!)
Congratulations Cassie & Jimmy on your first 4 days as a married couple-!! We hope that you had a great final bit of your wedding night, that you’ve had a good week thus far, and have safe travels to Florida as you leave for your Honeymoon next week! We had a blast with you two both at your wedding a handful of days ago AND at your Engagement Session this summer and we hope to see you two in person again soon to hear all about your honeymoon and the rest of your wedding celebrations-!!
_____ Unrelated: A few days ago on Sunday we finished up editing some Engagement Sessions and Senior Portraits, so since then we’ve been working our way through finishing up edits on thousands of images for the final 3 weddings of 2019. We haven’t stopped working again going as far as working long hours 7 days a week since we know that this is the final big push before winter. We have 5 wedding albums to begin designing during and after editing these 3 weddings, but first at the end of this week we also have about 165 photos to print for 3 different weddings (to then package and ship/ deliver).
We likely won’t be done with all of this CURRENT work until sometime next week, then we start in on the rest of these 16 clients’ printed photos that they’re currently finishing up choices on. Needless to say, we have 3 Christmas Portrait Sessions booked, but will not be booking any other Portrait Sessions for 2019-! We have already booked much of 2020 with weddings and Family Portrait Sessions, so we’re looking forward to fulfilling the gorgeous print orders of 2019, then moving on to 2020 with a clean slate and our annual belated Christmas trip to our immediate families out West-! We also adopted a tiny puppy to join in our fur family of our big dog and elderly cat, so we have been quite busy and are so excited to see what 2020 holds for all of us!
Coming up next week we’ll be sharing Ashley & Nate’s Fall Engagement Session that we captured a week & a half ago mostly up in St. Joseph, Michigan-! In the coming weeks we’ll also be sharing Senior Portraits, a blog about our favorite places that we donate to and provide services to, a 9 Year Anniversary of a wedding we captured in late fall, Infant Portraits, 3 Family Christmas Portrait Sessions from the end of December, and finally some of our personal Family Portraits from Christmas & Halloween-! Though we went to Italy at the start of October, we won’t even get to share any of those travels on our blog until well into February or March, so be on the lookout for those as well in the new year to come-!